dnj Gallery

Dale Johnson: By the SeaGallery II - Dan Shepherd: Blinded By Science

Santa Monica, CAUSASaturday, June 9, 2012–Saturday, July 21, 2012

Santa Monica, CAUSASaturday, June 9, 2012–Saturday, July 21, 2012

dnj Gallery is pleased to announce two upcoming exhibitions that will be on display from June 9 through July 21, 2012. "By the Sea" by Dale Johnson will be exhibited in the main gallery space. Gallery II will feature "Blinded by Science" by Dan Shepherd.

Dreamy views of the shore capture the imagination in Johnson's "By the Sea" series. Johnson is an accomplished artist who worked with charcoal, guache, watercolor, and pastel for several decades but eventually turned to photography to satisfy her desire for a sense of spontaneity. Inspired by both Pictorialism in photography and Pointillism in painting, Johnson seeks to create with the quick click of the shutter the soft, hazy effects she cherished in her work in other mediums. Johnson states, "[m]y art education led me to appreciate the quality of light, form and texture and how they set the tone or mood for my photographs in composition, pallete and texture."

Johnson earned her B.F.A. from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. She has exhibited across the country, and as a winner in the Emerging Focus Photography Competition, her work was exhibited at Photo L.A. 2012. In 2010, Johnson's photographs were published in "Color Magazine," Special Issue #10, and "Urban Country Landscape," The Worldwide Gala Awards. Johnson lives and works in Carmel, California and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The trees of Manhattan's Central Park arrive in Santa Monica in Shepherd's "Blinded by Science" series. With these works, Shepherd seeks the antidote to his view of the world as an environmental scientist and student of botany-someone so "blinded by science" that trees are more subjects of study than objects of beauty. By treating the leaves and branches of trees as parts of an abstraction, Shepherd rediscovers the aesthetic wonders of nature. He states, "I am using the artistic power of abstraction to create images of some of my favorite plants and trees, which helps me filter out the science details and lets me focus on the pure beauty of nature."

Dan Shepherd has a master's degree in environmental science from Columbia University and an International Diploma in Plant Conservation from the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, England. He holds a B.A. in Japanese from the University of Oregon. His work has been shown in various locations throughout the country, and has been featured in several recent publications, including: "The Orion Magazine," "The F-Stop Magazine - Abstraction" and "Lenscratch." This is his first show at dnj Gallery.